Holmes character is one of originality. He is in one way eccentric due to the strange and bizarre challenging cases that he thrives on solving. Holmes is a very observant and intelligent man and acknowledges clues other people wouldn’t. This art of solving clues enables him to hypothesise the outcome. He noticed a tattoo on Vabez Wilson’s arm revealing he had once travelled to China, and he noticed the dirt on Vincent Spaulding’s knees meaning he had been digging.
Though intelligent, Holmes is also extremely unpredictable. He can at one moment seem calm and deep in thought, but the next he is activated by an ecstasy of movement. He has high morals, he never takes advantage of desperate people. (S.t Claire’s wife), he helps the poor, and the only money he accepts is that of his own expenses. (“As to reward my possession is its reward you are at liberty to defray whatever expenses I may be put to at the time which suits you best”).
Doyle uses the character of Watson to highlight Holmes intelligence when Holmes is approached by a victim, he plunges them into deep non-stop questioning. While seeming unsympathetic he is in deep concentration trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together. This is in contrast to Watson, he is extremely sympathetic and comforting Watson rarely sees the relevance of some pieces of information. (In “The Speckled Band” Watson doesn’t think twice about the bell cord that opens the narrow ventilation). Sometimes though, Watson appears to be clever but in the end the clue is of irrelevance. (Watson looking at footprints in mud while Holmes in looking around the boundaries of Vulias room for means of entrance).
Holmes perceptiveness is again acknowledged in the concluding part of the story when he reveals all to Watson.
Doyle’s techniques for creating suspense and tension are the same as those used in crime writing today. He sets the plot in typical settings often dark or isolated. (Stoke Maran / Opium Den). He builds up tension by using vivid description as in “The Speckled Band” where Holmes interpretation of stoke Maran is, “ The central portion was in little better repair, but the right hand block was comparatively modern, and the blinds in the windows with the blue smoke curling up from the chimneys showed this was were the family lived.
The plot of Holmes stories usually start off with the victim approaching Holmes for advice and there is a twist of fate, with a few red herrings to throw the reader off the trail. The plot ends when Holmes and Watson wait for the criminal in the pitch darkness usually with Watson poised with his cocked revolver. “And left us in pitch darkness as I have never experienced before. The smell of metal remained to assure us that the light was still there ready, to flash out at a moments notice”. Doyle introduces clues at a rapid rate so there are a number of possibilities. The importance of some clues is not always apparent, but is explained at the end by who else but Holmes.
The introduction of clues starts very early, as soon as Holmes is approached by the victim. In all 3 stories the motivation for crime is MONEY (S.t Claire begs for money / Dr RoyCott murders so no-one can claim inheritance / and Vincent Spaulding trying to rob the bank).
Holmes uses power of observation to eliminate people from his enquiries. He also uses personal experiences from other crimes to help him deduct a conclusion . “As a mule, when I have heard some slight indication of the course of events I am able to guide myself by the thousands of other similar cases”. Other cases can appear important but some are red herrings such as the gypsies in “The Speckled Band” which added mystery to the stories. But all is in hand as Holmes uses his scientific knowledge and other methods of investigation which were relatively new to the Victorians. He is also very logical and never looks past the obvious.
Doyle’s stories are as interesting today as they were for Victorians 100 years ago because they are original, peculiar and they still spark intrigue for readers today. Doyle’s stories were the first and since then they have set a standard for the rest. There are similarities between original detective stories and modern detective genre because they both have a fast pace, a twist in the middle, and a final confrontation.
